Jessica Chastain’s Stylist Shares Her Golden Rule of Styling

Chastain at the premiere of The Tree Of Life in 2011, at the premiere of Foxcatcher in 2014, attending the 70th Anniversary screening in 2017.

From left, by Jean Baptiste Lacroix/FilmMagic, by Danny Martindale/WireImage, by Samir Hussein/WireImage.

Elizabeth Stewart has been styling Jessica Chastain’s trips to the Cannes Film Festival since 2011, when Chastain attended the event for the first time for her film with The Tree of Life. Six years and five festivals later, Chastain is back in Cannes as part of the jury determining which film will win the coveted Palme d’Or, and Stewart is still right there with her.

Chastain has more on her plate than the average attendee; she has film premieres and jury meetings to attend as well as 19 movies to watch and judge. One thing she doesn’t have to think about, though, is what she’s going to wear. Stewart has it covered.

The longtime stylist spoke to Vanity Fair via e-mail about how she maps out everything Chastain will wear over the 10 oft-photographed days, admitting that her juror status makes things a bit more difficult. “She is expected at many more events but has much less time for fittings and glam due to seeing two to three movies a day and jury meetings,” Stewart said. “We have some more low-key looks since there are so many carpets, like the Dior coat dress she wore [on Tuesday] night.”

Stewart started preparing looks for the festival around a month before they were set to leave, but fortunately, Stewart says Chastain has “a lot” of input into what ends up on the final rack, which isn’t always the easiest to ship over to France. “How do you say, baggage overage fees?” Stewart joked. “And a lot gets sent direct by the designers. Look at my Instagram!”

Cannes is full of premieres, but as Stewart has learned not all premieres are created equal. The red carpets at Cannes are bigger, bolder, and arguably more glamorous, challenging actresses and stylists to up their fashion game. “I think we can go much grander,” Stewart said. “There’s nothing like the red carpet at Cannes.”

Of course, not everything goes perfectly. Packages could get lost or dresses can suddenly not fit the way they did back in L.A. Stewart seems to have learned from past experiences though, and has come up with her own method to avoid any potential mishaps. “Here is my mantra: you won’t need a backup dress if you have a backup dress. That’s the golden rule of styling. You’re welcome.”

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